President Obama’s YouTube Forum just concluded.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Our question on legalization of marijuana was removed as “inappropriate” after over 4,000 votes made it one of the most popular videos.

LEAP’s question on legalization of marijuana became the most popular video question after over 4,500 votes.

President Obama and YouTube spent 1 hour 49 minutes responding to the people and completely ignored the question of marijuana legalization that made up 105 of the top 160 questions submitted.

There was enough time for the President to meet the three kids off-camera of one mother, exhorting them to stay in school.  Statistically speaking, one out of three of them* will be arrested for a non-traffic offense by age 23, and three out of four people busted for pot are under age 30.  There was also time to attempt to cajole the president to dance and his explanation of being a lousy dancer and a sometime singer.

Nothing to see here, move along.  Just a bunch of potheads in the online audience, I suppose.

Click here to view the embedded video.

*Or maybe not… they are white middle class kids.

EVERY demographic has increased its support for marijuana legalization since 2005

Yesterday we revealed The Top Ten “Reefer Madness” Stories of 2011.  Today we continue our Year-End Retrospective with a look at the biggest news stories of scientific research into cannabis, public opinion polls on legalization, and statistical research on cannabis consumers.  We call it The Top Ten Cannabis Science Stories of 2011.  Tomorrow we’ll continue with The Top Ten “Stupid Stoner Stories” of 2011 and Friday we conclude with the The Top Ten People in Cannabis of 2011.

The Top Ten Cannabis Science Stories of 2011 (audio mp3)

10. The Carbon Footprint of Cannabis

Cannabis Karri reported on a study that measured just how much electricity we’re using to grow cannabis indoors.

A new report conducted and published by Even Mills, PhD, a respected and long time energy analyst along with Staff Scientists at the Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory has concluded that Americans spend an amazing 1% of the entire national electricity consumption, or the equivalent of the output of seven large power plants on growing cannabis.

Since medical marijuana use has become so much more popular, and most of those states do not have a dispensary program, many more people are learning to grow marijuana indoors. The 20 terawatt-hours per year that marijuana growers use is due to the bright, often 24 hours a day lighting and an air change rate 60 times higher than a norml home. Even a modest indoor garden can have the same energy consumption rate of an entire data center. Since indoor cultivation of cannabis is a necessity to hide operations from authorities and others the energy bill to growers is about $5 billion each year. That extra energy to produce American cannabis is equal to the energy consumption of an extra 2 million average US homes. It also, unfortunately, produces greenhouse gas pollution equal to 3 million cars according to the new research.

9. Pot smokers are thinner and smarter than average

We have all suffered through jokes about cannabis consumers being fat, stupid couch potatoes.  So it was a joy in 2011 when two international studies found us to be thinner than our non-toking counterparts…

“We found that cannabis users are less likely to be obese than non-users,” [researchers said]. “We were so surprised, we thought we had [made] a mistake. Or that our results were due to the sample we studied. So we turned to another completely independent sample and found exactly the same association.”

…and smarter, too!

A new British study finds … men with high childhood IQs were up to two times more likely to use illegal drugs than their lower-scoring counterparts. Girls with high IQs were up to three times more likely to use drugs as adults. A high IQ is defined as a score between 107 and 158. An average IQ is 100. The study appears in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

None of this means taking up pot smoking is going to shed points and boost IQ.  It does mean that some popular stereotypes about us are completely unfounded.

8. Two-thirds of patients surveyed substitute marijuana for prescription medications

Many a medical marijuana activist can tell anecdotes of patients who’ve reduced or eliminated their need for opiate pain killers by substituting cannabis.  This year, Berkeley Patients Group surveyed their patients and found two-out-of-three had done just that.

In an anonymous survey, 66% of 350 clients at the Berkeley (Calif.) Patients Group, a medical marijuana dispensary, said that they use marijuana as a prescription drug substitute. Their reasons: Cannabis offered better symptom control with fewer side effects than did prescription drugs.

Those with pain symptoms said that marijuana has less addiction potential than do opioids. Others said marijuana helped to reduce the dose of other medications.

Speaking of the addiction potential of opioids…

7. Oxycontin is five times the “gateway drug” as marijuana

Prohibitionists have been using the “Gateway Drug” scare for years to frighten the public about legalization.  Despite every study blowing the concept out of the water, it still resonates with a large segment of the voters.  So I decided to take a look at the data to find out which drug is really the one with the greatest correlation to hard drug use, and it definitely wasn’t cannabis!

We cross-referenced the NSDUH numbers based on whether someone had ever tried marijuana. We found that only 1.5% of people who have toked became monthly cocaine users. For ecstasy, crack, meth, heroin, LSD, and PCP, less than 1% of the people who’ve tried pot are using those drugs regularly. Meanwhile, 2.9% of the people who’ve ever tried an legal analgesic (pain reliever) are regular cocaine users. For ecstasy, crack, and meth, more than 1% of who tried analgesics are regular users. People who tried analgesics are more than twice as likely as people who tried pot to use heroin regularly and three times more likely to use LSD regularly.

But if opponents want to cling to the idea that we should do everything in our power to stop someone from smoking that first marijuana joint, lest they become illegal drug addicts, then it is time to prohibit Vicodin, Lortab, Lorcet, and Oxycontin, those powerful legal opioid pain killers. The first Vicodin/Lortab/Lorcet leads to almost three times the risk of becoming a non-pot illegal drug user than the first joint and almost the same risk as smoking a joint every month. That first Oxycontin is more than five times the risk for drug abuse than the first joint.

6. Drug testing is still unreliable, inaccurate, unnecessary, invasive, and counter-productive

We drug test our citizens when we suspect they’re committing a crime, when they’re applying for a job, when they’re going to school, and when they’re in an accident.  Yet drug detection for marijuana is so unreliable and unscientific that its use is an affront to all free people.

First it is the “drug dog” that police and courts believe are akin to infallible scientific instruments instead of animals with instincts to please their human masters.

The accuracy of drug- and explosives-sniffing dogs is affected by human handlers’ beliefs, possibly in response to subtle, unintentional cues, UC Davis researchers have found.

The study, published in the January issue of the journal Animal Cognition, found that detection-dog teams erroneously “alerted,” or identified a scent, when there was no scent present more than 200 times — particularly when the handler believed that there was scent present.

Next it is the “drug lab” that may mishandle as many as one in ten tests.

An Indiana state lab wrongly reported 1 in 10 marijuana cases as positive, including some that were deliberately manipulated, an audit report indicated.

The audit’s findings showed errors in about 200 of 2,000 marijuana tests reported to law enforcement as having positive results, the Star said. This includes about 50 results the report said were consciously manipulated by lab workers.

Part of the justification for testing us for employment is workplace safety.  Yet, in medical marijuana states where tens or hundreds of thousands of citizens are legally using cannabis, we’ve seen drastic declines in workplace danger.

Prior to the beginning of the medical marijuana program [in Oregon], workplace injuries and illnesses that contributed to a lost workday stood at 3.4 per 100 full-time workers; in 2009 that rate is 2.3 per 100, a decline of 32%.  No-time-lost injuries and illnesses declined 40%, from 3.5 to 2.1 per 100.  Fatalities are down from 3.3 to 1.9 per 100, a drop of 42%.

These declines occurred while the medical marijuana patient registry grew by an average of a little more than 50% per year.

Another egregious use of drug testing is to make it a requirement of citizens seeking welfare assistance.  Florida’s law to do just that has been blocked while its (un-)constitutionality is determined, but in the time it was in effect, it cost Florida more than it saved.  It also found that welfare recipients were less likely to turn up positive than the general public.

The Department of Central Florida’s (DCF) region tested 40 applicants and only two tested positive for drugs, officials said. One of the tests is being appealed.

DCF said it has been referring applicants to clinics where drug screenings cost between $30 and $35. The applicant pays for the test out of his or her own pocket and then the state reimburses him if they test comes back negative.

Therefore, the 38 applicants in the Central Florida area, who tested negative, were reimbursed at least $30 each and cost taxpayers $1,140.

Meanwhile, the state is saving less than $240 a month by refusing benefits to those two applicants who tested positive.

Finally, the unintended consequences of drug testing became more apparent.  When marijuana is the drug that is the hardest to conceal on a drug test, people will turn to drugs that are easier to conceal.

As I looked at the data, I noticed that in the span from 2005 to 2011, the positive test rate for marijuana for all workplace drug tests (pre-employment, random, and post-accident) declined 20%, from 2.5% of approximately 2.4 million tests to 2.0%.  That’s about 12,000 fewer cannabis consumers who were caught by a pee test.

Meanwhile, oxycodone positives have increased 96% for all urine testing, although these tests are administered about one tenth as often (280,000) for oxycodone as for cannabis (2,400,000).  This despite the facts that while marijuana metabolites may be detected in urine for weeks, oxycodone metabolites are flushed from one’s system in two or three days.  Furthermore, random positives for oxycodone (1.20%) are almost twice as great and post-accident positives for oxycodone (1.80%) are nearly three-times greater than pre-employment positives for oxycodone (0.65%), which suggests to me that the pre-employment screens don’t work very well at keeping oxycodone users out of the workplace.

5. For past two years, more Americans arrested for marijuana than all other drugs combined despite arrest protection for America’s One Million Legal Marijuana Users

When somebody mentions “The War on Drugs”, remind them what we’re really talking about is a “War on Marijuana”.

Nationally, there were 1,638,846 drug arrests reported to the FBI, with 52.1% of those arrests for marijuana charges.  Last year, 51.6% of all drug arrests were for marijuana, showing a slight increase in marijuana as the majority of all drug arrests.  The last time marijuana made up a majority of the “War on Drugs” was 1985, when 55.6% of all drug arrests were for marijuana.

Keep in mind that these annual marijuana arrests continue to climb even as we reduce the number of marijuana users eligible for arrest in the medical marijuana state, users who grow and use the most marijuana.

Between one to one-and-a-half million people are legally authorized by their state to use marijuana in the United States, according to data compiled by NORML from state medical marijuana registries and patient estimates.  Assuming usage of one-half to one gram of cannabis medicine per day per patient and an average retail price of $320 per ounce, these legal consumers represent a $2.3 to $6.2 billion dollar market annually.

4. Drug Czar claims medical marijuana makes more young people smoke pot, despite fewer teens smoking pot

A popular refrain of the Drug Czar is that by calling marijuana “medicine”, we lead young people to think it is less dangerous, and therefore, use goes up.

“Emerging research reveals potential links between state laws permitting access to smoked medical marijuana and higher rates of marijuana use,” said Gil Kerlikowske, Director of National Drug Control Policy. “In light of what we know regarding the serious harm of illegal drug use, I urge every family – but particularly those in states targeted by pro-drug political campaigns – to redouble their efforts to shield young people from serious harm by educating them about the real health and safety consequences caused by illegal drug use.”

Except that medical marijuana’s been around on the West Coast for over a dozen years.  Between 2003 and 2009, as more states have adopted medical marijuana, nationally the rate of monthly teen use is on the decline.

In fact, eleven of the thirteen states that had medical marijuana as of 2009 saw declines in teen marijuana use, and the five that added it after 2003 saw double-digit declines.

From 2003 to 2009 in California, monthly teen use is up only 0.26%.  In Colorado, teen use is up 3.77% in that time frame.  Yet Wyoming, a state without medical marijuana, saw the greatest increase of 5.18%.  Furthermore, looking back before 2003, to 1996 and 1998 when the West Coast legalized medical marijuana, teen use is lower now than then.

3. The people really, really want to ask the President about the legalization of marijuana that half of them support

This year, the esteemed Gallup Poll finally recorded half of the US population in support of legalizing marijuana.

Gallup reports that the 50% nationwide support for legalization also represents the first time support has outweighed opposition.  Only 46% of Americans believe marijuana should remain criminalized, with 4% undecided.

Support for marijuana legalization remains greatest in the Western states (55%) and majorities support legalization in the Midwest (54%) and East (51%).  Only voters in the South still oppose marijuana legalization (44%).  Men still support legalization at a much greater rate than women (55% vs. 46%).

Support is also greatest among younger Americans (62%), Democrats (57%), and liberals (69%).  However, support for legalization has increased even in demographics generally opposed to legalization.  Compared to Gallup’s poll last year, support increased 4% points in the South, 12% points in the Midwest, and 6% points among 50-64, but fell 1% among 65+.  Support rose 6% points among Republicans, and 4% points among conservatives. Marijuana legalization is becoming more popular with just about everyone.

President Obama, seeking input from the people on policy questions, was stunned once again to find…

On the “We the People” petitions site of Whitehouse.gov, as of this writing, NORML’s “Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol” petition is #1 by a long shot.  It has garnered over 42,000 signatures.  It needed 5,000 signatures in 30 days to generate an official response from the administration, a figure it had topped in just over three hours.

And when he asked for videos from citizens on policy issues, another stunning result…

The top question, submitted by Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, garnered 13,842 votes – over 1% of all votes cast (people could vote for more than one question).

As a police officer, I saw how waging the war on drugs has cost a trillion dollars and thousands of lives but does nothing to reduce drug use. Should we discuss legalizing marijuana and other drugs, which would eliminate the violent criminal market?

Of the 193,060 people who voted more than 7% voted for the LEAP question.  That’s about one in fourteen people who took the time to Ask Obama.

2. National Cancer Institute drama over anti-tumoral effects of cannabis

A very high-profile battle over scientific integrity played itself out on the webpage of Cancer.gov, the government’s site for the National Cancer Institute.  It began when the site surprisingly updated its summary page on cannabis and cannabinoids.

The potential benefits of medicinal Cannabis for people living with cancer include antiemetic effects, appetite stimulation, pain relief, and improved sleep. In the practice of integrative oncology, the health care provider may recommend medicinal Cannabis not only for symptom management but also for its possible direct antitumor effect.

Cannabinoids may cause antitumor effects by various mechanisms, including induction of cell death, inhibition of cell growth, and inhibition of tumor angiogenesis and metastasis. [9-11] Cannabinoids appear to kill tumor cells but do not affect their nontransformed counterparts and may even protect them from cell death. These compounds have been shown to induce apoptosis in glioma cells in culture and induce regression of glioma tumors in mice and rats.

Then it appeared that somebody pressured NCI to revise its update to better align with the government’s prohibition of cannabis.  The paragraphs above were removed and replaced with:

The potential benefits of medicinal Cannabis for people living with cancer include antiemetic effects, appetite stimulation, pain relief, and improved sleep. Though no relevant surveys of practice patterns exist, it appears that physicians caring for cancer patients who prescribe medicinal Cannabis predominantly do so for symptom management.

Then NCI updated the “clinical studies” portion of the website to again highlight the anti-tumoral effects:

One study in mice and rats suggested that cannabinoids may have a protective effect against the development of certain types of tumors.

Decreased incidences of benign tumors(polyps and adenomas) in other organs(mammary gland, uterus, pituitary, testis, and pancreas)were also noted in the rats.

Cannabinoids may cause antitumor effects by various mechanisms, including induction of cell death, inhibition of cell growth, and inhibition of tumorangiogenesis and metastasis.

Cannabinoids appear to kill tumor cells but do not affect their nontransformed counterparts and may even protect them from cell death.

1. Colorado’s 5ng/mL per se DUID bill dies again as new research backs higher thresholds for regular users

We tackled drug testing above in #6, but this story takes #1 for showing how science and the scientific method can actually beat back prohibition.  Colorado had proposed a 5ng of THC per milliliter of blood (5ng/mL) per se DUID, meaning: if you test positive on a drug test above 5ng/mL, you’re automatically guilty of DUI, whether you were impaired or not.

Naturally, many medical marijuana patients in Colorado complained that they are such frequent and heavy users of cannabis that they would never be under such a threshold.  Furthermore, most of them have developed a tolerance to cannabis’ effects that allows them to drive under its influence without impairment, much as we understand an “until you know how [Pill X] affects you, do not drive or operate heavy machinery” warning on a pharmaceutical.

The “pot critic” of Denver’s WestWord, William Breathes, decided to become the experiment by abstaining from cannabis use under controlled conditions.  After sixteen hours and a night’s sleep, upon awakening, presumably clean and sober, Breathes was tested at 13ng/mL.  This anecdotal report, splashed all over the Denver media, was also backed up by the latest scientific research:

It concludes: “A threshold of 2-3ng/ml THC as an indicator of recent drug use (i.e, smoking within the previous 6 hours) as recommended by Huestis et al appears to be valid only for occasional users. Heavy users might exhibit measurable cannabinoid concentrations in blood, even if the last cannabis use was more than 24 hours ago.… Therefore, cannabinoid concentrations in heavy users’ blood from a later elimination phase might not be distinguished from an acute use of an occasional user.”

Download Link: Secret Stash - Register to access
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Brought to you by Cannabis Fantastic

1. Drug Testing News Round-up
2. Granny Purps holds annual Joints-for-Food Drive
3. Sacramento outlaws “federally illegal” businesses

Daily Toker Tunes

Groovin’ Thursday: Brought to you by John Doe Radio.com

• Lucid Music – “Three Twenty”

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition Speaker’s Corner

• Tony Ryan, 36-year Denver cop

Cannabis Conversations

• Steve Elliott from Toke of the Town

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1. Las Vegas dispensary case challenges constitution
2. I-1518 in California kicks off, would legalize 2oz possession, cultivation, and sales
3. Riverside ban on dispensaries upheld by court
4. Kalamazoo residents react to law enforcement dismissal of lowest-priority initiative
5. Iowa City spends $105,000 going after 21lbs of pot

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• Chuuwee – “French Inhale”

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition Speaker’s Corner

• Capt. Joe Brooks, retired Connecticut cop with 30-year career

Radical Rant

• WeedMaps Made a Huge Mistake in Medical Marijuana… they told the truth about the system!

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1. Washington State Supreme Court rules employers may legally discriminate against medical marijuana patients
2. Connecticut fails to call medical marijuana bill to floor vote, but tries last minute bill for a task force to study the issue
3. Willie Nelson’s five ounces in Texas that became two ounces becomes just a paraphernalia charge, fine and no jail time

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• Groovin’ Thursday: Earthquake Institute – “Medicated”

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition Speaker’s Corner

• Terry Nelson on the 40th Anniversary of Nixon’s “War on Drugs”

Grassroots Activism

• Jennifer Alexander from OCTA 2012 on proposal to raise fees on medical marijuana patients

"Counter-culture" activists for NORML (L-R) Keith Stroup, Assem. Tom Ammiano, PBS Host Rick Steves... crazy hippies!

From time to time on blogs I read a complaint about NORML, like this one:

NORML hasn’t accomplish­ed anything since the disco era!  They haven’t done a damn thing in the last 30 years!  Paul A is the only good thing NORML has going; aside from him, this movement wouldn’t even notice if NORML ceased existing.

I will concur that Paul Armentano is an MVP All-Star in marijuana law reform.  You cannot find a person better educated on the science of marijuana.

But to conclude Paul is the “only good thing NORML has going” is to disparage the incredible work being done by hundreds of grassroots activists working in the NORML chapter network.  To wit:

More "counter-culture" activists with NORML

Chris Goldstein, Anne Davis, & NORML NJ – instrumental in negotiations with New Jersey lawmakers to bring about Gov. Corzine’s signature on the law making it the nation’s 15th medical marijuana state.

Derek Rosenzweig & PhillyNORML – uncovered and published research on Philadelphia’s racial bias in marijuana enforcement leading to a change in policy to end arrests of low level marijuana consumers in the city.

Another couple of "hippies"

Michigan NORML and MassCann/NORML laid the groundwork for 2008′s medical marijuana and decriminalization, respectively, in Michigan and Massachusetts by passing numerous municipal measures in support of marijuana.

Madeline Martinez and Oregon NORML led negotiations with lawmakers to set medical marijuana limits to 24 ounces and 24 plants, the highest statewide statutory limits in the nation (along with Washington State).

The "grass" in "grassroots" - so counter-culture!

Dale Gieringer, Bill Panzer, and California NORML helped co-author Prop 215 in California, worked for the clarifications found in SB420, worked with Assem. Ammiano to produce the first legalization bill in decades, helped shepherd the latest California decrim measure to Schwarzenegger’s desk, and are organizing with Prop 19′s leaders for a new legalization initiative in 2012.

Kandice Hawes and Orange County NORML held the nation’s first medical marijuana conference specifically for seniors… across the street from Disneyland!

No wonder "normal" people won't join... look at these two!

Mary Mackenzie (apologies for the original name misspell – I sure know what that’s like!), AZ4NORML, and Phoenix NORML were the foot soldiers gathering the signatures that got MPP’s Arizona Prop 203 on the ballot.

Kelly Maddy, Joplin NORML, Dan Viets, Missouri NORML, all worked in Missouri to pass lowest-law-enforcement and other municipal initiatives.

These guys have done nothing since the disco era...

Ben Masel, Gary Storck, Madison NORML all have lobbied intensively for the Jackie Rickert Medical Marijuana Act, moving it farther along in the legislative process every year.

Colorado NORML, Mile High NORML, have worked with SAFER on their initiatives, gathering signatures that lead to Denver’s legalization and other low-priority initiatives.

Obviously too tie-dyed and love-beaded to make any difference

Isaias Valdez and Idaho NORML are beginning the grassroots education and activism in one of the most anti-marijuana states in the nation; the state currently has a medical marijuana bill in the legislature and the group is following up with a citizen’s initiative.

John & Heather Masterson in Montana NORML, battling to mitigate the perception of abuse of medical marijuana created by unethical “ganjapreneurs” and most recenlty providing live coverage of the DEA raids in Montana.

Sure, they're doctors... but they're "pot" doctors!

Then there are the hundreds of attorneys who make up the NORML Legal Committee, who have donated thousands of hours of pro bono time helping average cannabis consumers avoid jail and retain voting rights, also working on new laws.  For example:

Jeff Blackburn, who kept an AIDS patient out of a Texas prison with an affirmative defense that a jury agreed with in only 11 minutes of deliberation.  The patients’ original public defender only offered a plea deal that would have meant six months of drug testing that would’ve left the patient without his medicine, wasting away.

And that whole "boobs and buds" issue turns women off to the cause...

Doug Hiatt, who fought for the life of Hep C patient Tim Garon, denied a liver transplant because his legal medical marijuana use in Washington State made him a “drug addict” in the eyes of the hospital.  Hiatt is now behind the Sensible Washington effort to fully legalize by citizen initiative.

Let’s not forget the national staff (like me) who constantly educate, advocate, interview, debate, advertise, litigate, lobby, and keep the conversation on marijuana legalization moving forward.

No wonder nobody wants to legalize pot - look at these people!

I’ve already written way too much for a comment and that is just reviewing my own memory of NORML Activism within the four years I’ve worked for NORML.  And remember, aside from the lawyers (sometimes), NONE of these activists made a single dime for performing these heroic acts.

As far as I’m concerned, all of the groups involved in marijuana law reform have an important role to play.  It’s like the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard – we have different jobs and different specializations in service of the same goal.  Sure, we have internecine grudges and rivalries.  Just as jarheads goad sailors, just as grunts tease flyboys, drug war reform groups may also grouse about each other, but when the rubber hits the road, we’re all fighting for the good ol’ U S of A.

For me personally, there are some important differences.  DPA is about drug policy – they think drug prohibition sucks.  MPP is about marijuana policy – they think marijuana prohibition sucks.  SAFER is about offering choice – they think alcohol sucks compared to marijuana.  ASA is about medical marijuana – they are silent on healthy people’s use.  LEAP is about cops’ expression of drug war failure – they think drug prohibition sucks.

NORML, of all the groups, is the one that doesn’t just think marijuana prohibition sucks, but that cannabis use is a positive.  We’re not just anti-prohibition, we’re pro-cannabis!

Finally, to the disparagement of the counter-culture you believe NORML represents: in actuality, most of our NORML Affiliate and Chapter leaders are far from what anyone would consider “hippie”.  Anne Davis, head of NORML NJ, is a successful attorney and mother of two.  Tonya Davis, head of Central Ohio NORML, is a disabled patient in a wheelchair.  Clif Deuvall, head of NORML of Waco Texas, is a disabled veteran.  Isaias Valdez, head of Idaho NORML, is a clean-cut college student.  I can’t speak to what you may have seen from NORML in the 1980′s or 90′s, but I know since my involvement I have never met a better representative group of average cannabis consumers.  In my tenure, we have instituted sixty new state, local, and college affiliates, so it seems to me plenty of people are eager to organize under the NORML banner.

There is a drug reform group for everyone.  I don’t care what acronym you want to associate with so long as you’re on this side of the battle over prohibition.  But to dismiss and disparage NORML’s role in the war is to vilify the most committed activists in the battle – the ones not doing it for some billionaire’s largess.  If you think someone might not support ending prohibition because someone in a NORML T-shirt might have long hair, piercings, or tattoos, then you aren’t very good at illustrating the need to end the drug war.

Russ Belville

NORML Outreach Coordinator

P.S. If you really want to know what is going on in grassroots reform, check out the podcasts from all around the nation and even England at The NORML Network – http://live.norml.org

(Philadelphia Weekly) Outside Room 404 of the Criminal Justice Center on 13th and Filbert streets, men sitting on the long, wooden bench in the blindingly white marble hallway slide over to make room for the latecomers. On one end of the bench, a man nods off. On the other, a few guys trade stories about the “bullshit” that landed them here. In the middle, laughter and a heated debate over the Eagles and Andy Reid’s coaching skills fill time as the men wait to enter Philly’s Small Amounts of Marijuana program, the diversion court started by District Attorney Seth Williams back in June.

Inside the courtroom, it’s time to get down to business. Offenders caught possessing 30 grams or less get to make a deal: Agree to pay a $200 fine and attend a three-hour treatment class and avoid going to trial and risking jail time. Since there’s no legal representation in the court, the director presiding over the process makes sure to state the rules clearly. “We will not hear testimony or the particulars of your case. Upon successful completion of this class, your record will be expunged within six months. You may pay cash or money order on the date of your class.” Most defendants nod their head in agreement and opt for the fine and treatment class.

“The diversion court is … working better for the people, as well as saving significant money for the city,” says Chris Goldstein, communications director for the Philly chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, which was instrumental in getting the policy changed. “But I’d like to see us take on a serious debate about decriminalizing marijuana.” The end goal, says Goldstein, is for Philly to catch up to the rest of Pennsylvania. “It’s possible we will see the city come in line with the rest of the state, in terms of issuing tickets on the street.”

PhillyNORML did a great job crunching the numbers and remains one of our leading NORML Affiliates, setting the standard for effective activism in a major American city.  You can follow our coverage of PhillyNORML leading up to this story.

Dr. Harry Levine is also cited in the story.  He will be joining us on Tuesday’s NORML SHOW LIVE to discuss his research into Philadelphia’s racial disparities in marijuana law enforcement.  Another frequent guest of NORML SHOW LIVE, Maj. Neill Franklin of LEAP, is also quoted in the full piece in Philadelphia Weekly:

Many associated with law enforcement say the funding puts pressure on police departments to make the low-level marijuana arrests. “The police are sent to make arrests, clear corners … that will never end as long as they cater to the illegal drug market,” says former cop Neill Franklin.

During his 33 years on the Baltimore and Maryland state police narcotics forces, Franklin has seen the escalating war on weed first-hand, having locked up countless pot smokers, pot dealers and pot growers. Now, he’s fighting tooth and nail to keep legalization at the front of everyone’s minds. As the executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (its tagline is “Cops say legalize drugs”), Franklin has penned dozens of editorials and appeared on countless talk shows calling for nothing less than strict, legalized pot regulation. He calls Philly’s diversion court is “modest reform,” and questions the rationale behind its creation. “If it makes no sense to charge, convict and sentence someone for using marijuana, why is it a police priority to arrest that person?”

OLYMPIA, WA — A number of law enforcers who once waged the “war on drugs” submitted testimony yesterday in support of a bill to legalize and regulate marijuana in Washington. The bill, HB 1550, sponsored by Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, was heard by the House Committee on Public Safety & Emergency Preparedness.

Norm Stamper, a retired Seattle chief of police, wrote that legalizing marijuana “would provide a great benefit for public safety by allowing the state’s police officers to focus on the worst crimes, protecting the people of Washington from burglaries, rapes, shootings, and drunk driving. Not only would it free up police resources, it would bring in much-needed new revenue for the state.” Stamper and the other criminal justice professionals that testified today are speakers for the organization Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP).

According to Rep. Dickerson, the bill could generate $400 million in new revenue for the state every two years. Seventy-seven percent of the revenues raised would be dedicated to health care and 20 percent to substance abuse and treatment. It would legalize the use of marijuana for adults age 21 and over and allow it to be sold through state liquor stores, with commercial growers applying for a license through the Liquor Control Board.

“Drug cases and marijuana cases in particular occupy an inordinate amount of money and time,” testified David Nichols, a retired Whatcom County Superior Court judge. “In addition to the court resources they waste, I witnessed the damage they inflicted upon individuals and their families and communities. And for what? Marijuana laws are not keeping anyone from using marijuana.”

Also submitting testimony today were retired U.S. Customs inspector Arnold James Byron, former police officer James Peet and former Washington State Department of Corrections probation officer Matt McCally.

The full text of the bill and other information can be found at http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=1550

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) represents police, prosecutors, judges, prison warders, federal agents and others who want to legalize and regulate drugs after fighting on the front lines of the “war on drugs” and learning firsthand that prohibition only serves to worsen addiction and violence. More info at http://www.CopsSayLegalizeDrugs.com.

You can't say we're not motivated...

Some final stats for the YouTube.com/AskObama forum we’ve been covering…

193,060 people have submitted 139,679 questions and cast 1,380,616 votes.

The top question, submitted by Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, garnered 13,842 votes – over 1% of all votes cast (people could vote for more than one question).

As a police officer, I saw how waging the war on drugs has cost a trillion dollars and thousands of lives but does nothing to reduce drug use. Should we discuss legalizing marijuana and other drugs, which would eliminate the violent criminal market?

Of the 193,060 people who voted more than 7% voted for the LEAP question.  That’s about one in fourteen people who took the time to Ask Obama.

The next most popular question (which is also about the Drug War) had 5,745 votes.  Numerous other Drug War questions had thousands of votes.  Here are the most popular questions’ stats for the categories besides “Other” (where Ask Obama staff have been placing any Drug War questions):

• Jobs & Economy: 3,575
• Foreign Policy & National Security: 3,152
• Health Care: 2,819
• Education: 3,671
• Immigration: 2,288
• Energy & Environment: 3,108

As I was composing this the final stats changed…

193,060 people have submitted 139,667 questions and cast 1,379,814 votes

…so it would appear they are pruning some questions and their votes, which means the LEAP question (assuming it isn’t pruned) will represent even larger stats than 1% of all votes and 7% of all voters.

Are you listening, President Obama?  We are – we’ll be covering your live responses to these questions on NORML SHOW LIVE at 11:30am Pacific tomorrow.